Pokemon Pinkish-Grey
by Hx2
Summary: Yuan has always wanted to explore the world outside of Lacunosa village, but his dream comes at a price. The Black and White kingdoms of Isshu are preparing for war, and Yuan is trapped in the middle. Will his mysterious shapeshifting powers be enough to protect himself and everything he holds dear?
1. Transform! Yuan of Lacunosa!

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, the world that they live in, the region of Isshu/Unova, or anything else Nintendo created. I own all original characters unless otherwise specified. Any original character that's a pokemon is original in its characterization and any qualities that weren't given to its species or pokemon in general in the games or anime.

But such a disclaimer shouldn't really be necessary. Use your good judgement to determine what's mine and what isn't. I mean, you know this is fanfiction, a derivative work posted on a website purely for derivative works, otherwise you wouldn't be here. Since only those who own pokemon would ever have a reason to sue a pokemon fanfiction writer, they should be able to differentiate between the things that are mine and the things that are theirs.

* * *

Excerpt from Yuan's journal, translated from pictures with captions to pure text:

Lacunosa village

First founded: over 500 years ago by Isshu natives

Population: less than 100

Demographics: over the years consistently about 30% descended from foreign settlers and the rest Isshu natives.

Geographics: Northeastern Isshu, forest to the north, south and east, plains to the west.

* * *

_As long as I can remember, I've been different. When I was little, the girls would be playing with dolls, makeup and jewelry, and learn to cook and sow, while the boys would be playing tag and roughhousing and going out to hunt with their fathers. There were exceptions of course; there were a few girls I knew who would play tag and roughhouse and go hunting, and even fewer boys who would play with dolls, makeup and jewelry, or learn to cook or sow._

_I didn't do any of these things all that much. Instead, I would spend much of my time daydreaming and wandering around taking in the scenery. Oftentimes I would draw some of the things I saw. I especially enjoyed drawing living things. Walking around in the wilderness and drawing portraits of each of the different kinds of pokemon surrounding Lacunosa had become a pastime for me over the years. Not to brag, but even then I was a great artist, although I had yet to show my pictures to anyone in the village. I had no friends at home, and the only person I ever really talked to was my mother. I wasn't that lonely though. I still had the life surrounding Lacunosa to keep me company. There was actually a swellow I met once who posed as I drew her in my journal._

_However, the day I met my best friend, he refused to be drawn. Still does to this day, in fact. The day I met him had seemed to be a day like any other. I was walking along a pleasantly calm, dirt path through the forest east of home, unaware of the long and difficult path ahead of me..._

* * *

**Transform! Yuan of Lacunosa!**

* * *

What kind of pokemon was that? Yuan had never seen anything like it before. It had four shadowy gray legs and a dark canine face with red eyes and a dark blade coming out of its head. In spite of the fact that most of its body was covered in white fur, it looked more like a creature of the night, seeming out of place in broad daylight even though that light was dimmed by the canopy of the trees.

Yuan whipped out his journal, quill and a bluk berry. Almost instantaneously, the creature turned and gave him a piercing glare, then fled.

"Wait! I just want a picture!"

But it was too late. The strange pokemon was already gone.

Yuan noticed it was slightly darker now. His stomach rumbled. It was almost time for dinner; he had to get back home before the sun set.

When he got back home, his mother was outside of their tent, cooking a vegetable stew over a fire.

"Dinner's almost ready, Yuan," she said. "How was your day?"

"Fine," said Yuan, sitting down on a log near the fire.

"That's what you always say dear," his mother replied.

"That's how it's always been," was Yuan's even response.

She was silent after that. She liked to pretend that Yuan was a normal boy with friends, but she knew that the reality was very different, and Yuan knew that she knew. However, he wasn't sure if she knew about his daily excursions into area surrounding the village; he didn't know if she would approve, and he didn't want her to worry. Perhaps that was the same reason she never talked to him about his father, whom he had never met. Maybe she thought it would worry him.

Yuan's mother put out the fire and scooped the stew into two bowls and handed one to him. He thanked her and began to eat. Suddenly, someone screamed. The voice was coming from somewhere near the west side of the village. Yuan's mother dropped her bowl of stew to the ground and rushed towards the source of the noise. Yuan quickly put down his stew and followed her at a brisk pace.

All of the people and pokemon of Lacunosa village were crowded around the west entrance to the village where the forest ended and the plains began.

In the center of all the onlookers, towering over them all was a dark blue-scaled three headed dragon with all three of its faces framed by reddish horns, and its body carried by black wings. Sitting on its back was an old man with faded and graying red hair and a permanent scowl on his face, wearing white robes with a red belt that held a sword in its hilt.

"Where is he? Where is Drew Duplex!?"

"We don't know who he is!" said one of the villagers. "Everyone knows each other here, and no man with such a name has ever resided here in our memory."

"He is an outlaw who can shapeshift, so he could very well be among your number. Capture them all!"

Out of nowhere appeared about a hundred men with pure strawberry-red skin, big black eyebrows and wearing blackbelt karate uniforms-or at least that's what they appeared to be on first glance. Closer inspection revealed that they were completely hairless, their eyebrows were actually an external bone that protected their eyes like eyebrows, along with nearly completely covering their noses; their bodies were not covered in blackbelt uniforms, but rather scales that were colored in such a way to look like they were. Furthermore, at the ends of the "sleeves" were huge three-fingered hands, and no actual human's complexion was that deep and opaque a red. They were pokemon.

"Wisdom and prosperity to the White Kingdom of Isshu! Use bind!" said the red-haired man, who by this battlecry revealed himself to be a knight. The pokemon that had just appeared each sought out a different human or pokemon villager and trapped them under the restraint of either a headlock or wrapping their arms around a different body part.

"Why are you doing this!?" one of the villagers demanded. "We are Isshu citizens with rights and freedoms, and you are treating us like criminals!"

"I am sorry madam," the knight still sitting on the back of his dragon pokemon said, though he didn't look sorry. "We are on the verge of war with the Black kingdom, and our king believes that desperate times call for desparate measures."

Yuan was struggling against the hold his captor had on him. He had never been faced with a situation where he couldn't move at all, and he was scared. He thought his neighbor's question was a good one. Why were the people of Lacunosa being treated like criminals? Even if the man riding the dragon was right that desparate times called for desparate measures, how was capturing him and his neighbors supposed to help defend them from the Black kingdom!?

"I would have thought you would have revealed yourself by now, Duplex," the man sneered. We both know that you're too proud to be restrained like this for long..." He jumped down from his dragon and approached Yuan's mother.

"You look familiar..." he said.

"I don't believe that we've ever met," she responded, cooly.

He unsheathed his sword. "Perhaps Duplex will show himself if I attempt to cut you."

"You're joking!" said Yuan's mother. Several of the villagers looked on in anger and fear for her, but afraid to speak, lest they draw attention to themselves.

"No, I'm not," the scowling man said. He raised his sword.

"MOM!" Yuan struggled to break free, and finally managed to elbow and headbutt his captor. In spite of the fact that the pokemon was more than twice his size and should have been much stronger, the red fighting pokemon was knocked back. Startled, the knight turned around and stared at Yuan, who had just lost all the hair on his head and elbow, which had both turned the same red as the pokemon who had been holding him captive. Many of the pokemon and all of the humans in the vicinity stared in shock at the sight.

"A shapeshifter..." the knight muttered. "Duplex?"  
"I don't know who this Duplex person is," said Yuan, shakily. "But neither my mother or I have done anything wrong. Please leave us alone!"

"I am the most powerful of knights in the White Kingdom, second only to his majesty himself, and yet you make demands of me!?" the knight pointed his sword at Yuan. "I am here on the orders of the prince! For you to tell me to leave and even go so far as to attack one of my soldiers is treason! You don't even deserve to be touched by my blade." He sheathed his sword, and turned his back on Yuan, calmly saying, "Hydreigon, Hyper Beam."

The dragon that the knight had arrived on opened its mouth, gathering white-hot energy into its maw and fired it at Yuan.

This couldnt' be it. He didn't want to die. Yuan shut his eyes tight, and with all his might, willed the attack to stop, to disappear and leave him unscathed. About two seconds later he was still breathing heavily. He opened his eyes to see a bluish-green barrier had sprung up around him, and the hydreigon that attacked him had landed on the ground, panting heavily. Yuan's hands had started to turn indigo like many of the dragon's scales.

"A protection barrier," the knight scoffed. "That won't work again. Hydreigon!"

And then, suddenly, the knight and all of the pokemon he had brought with him disappeared.

Yuan fainted.


	2. The Journey Begins!

"Why have I been teleported back here?" asked The White Knight, who had instantly recognized the pure white walls and floor of the White kingdom throne room. "Are the mind-spies not spying on the Black kingdom for us?"

"Do not worry, Sir Isaac, the mind-spies have not left their post. I have hired an assasin."

"An assassin!?"

"You called, highness?"

Sir Isaac spun around to the entrance of the throne room where the lazy voice had originated. Standing there, leaning against the archway was a tall, greyish white vaguely feline creature with a large green tail, two three-fingered hands, long two-toed feet with visibly cylindrical ankles, bent horn-like ears, and large piercing green eyes.

"What kind of pokemon is that?" Sir Isaac wondered, staring at the newcomer.

The creature glared at him. "I'm Midori the Sanguimew," it said. "Pleased to make your aquanitance," it bowed mockingly.

The knight gritted his teeth, but did not say anything for fear of angering the prince.

Midori walked forward and kneeled before the prince's throne.

"You may stand," said the prince. "Do you know what you must do?"

"I must find and kill Drew Duplex," said Midori without hesitation.

"Good," said the prince. "There is a boy named Yuan who lives with his mother in Lacunosa village. I have been searching for both of them for many years, because I believe that they both have a connection to Drew Duplex. Now that we know where they are, we can keep an eye on them."

"Sire, with all due respect, while I was there the boy committed an act of treason. Should he not be killed as well?"

Midori stared at Sir Isaac in shock that he would be willing to kill a _child_ for treason.

"He does not need to be killed," said the prince. "On the contrary, if he is the one who I think he is, then we will need him on our side for when the war comes. What you have said does not change our plan. I expected the boy to be going on a journey very soon, but I had not known what would prompt him to leave his home."

"Based on the information you have already given, I'm guessing you want me to tail the boy until he leads me to Duplex, kill Duplex, and then attempt to recruit the boy to the White Army?"

"Precisely."

"As you command, highness." Midori disappeared.

"What about the boy's mother?" Sir Isaac asked.

"I have already sent two of my agents to keep watch on her for me. If she tries to contact Duplex, I will know."

* * *

He was just an ant scurrying around his anthill, staring out into the nearly infinite ground and sky. Then he was a liepard, his strong dark purple-furred legs carrying his handsome feline body across the land at high speed. Then he was a swanna, flapping his white feathered wings and taking off into the brilliant blue. But why be just a he? Why not be a she as well? She could be either gender, after all. Or it could be neither. It could take on any form, any at all...it passed through a hole in a Lacunosa cloud and transformed.

Yuan woke up feeling euphoric, as if he really had just sprouted wings and flown up through a Lacunosa cloud. It was rather ironic, since according to legend, flying _down_ through a Lacunosa cloud was supposedly how the entire continent had been discovered.

"What a strange dream," he muttered.

He got out of bed and left the tent to see his mother making dinner: Oran berry salad with seasoned ants. While Yuan wasn't particularly fond of eating ants, he didn't dislike it either. It was definitely a good meat source when there were no dead Pokemon around for the village to scavenge.

His mother glanced at him but didn't say anything as he sat down on a log while she continued preparing the meal. Yuan was first to break the tense silence.

"Mom? Why am I so different?"

He had asked this question before many times in his life, and she would always avoid giving him a straight answer.

This time however, was different.

She sighed and said, "Because you're part ditto."

"I'm part what?"

She dished some salad into two bowls and handed one to Yuan.

"Ditto. It's a Pokemon that can shapeshift. Supposedly it can take the form of any living being."

Yuan was not surprised, but still very interested. "That explains how I was able to defend myself yesterday," he said. It also explains why when I urinate I-"

"But there's something more important you should know," his mother said, loudly, cutting across him. "You have incurred the wrath of the White Knight."

"That's the guy who attacked us earlier, right?" asked Yuan.

His mother nodded, and continued in a rapid whisper, "As much as I hate to say it, because of what happened this morning, you're not safe here anymore. Tomorrow morning you must leave Lacunosa. I would come with you, but it would look suspicious if both of us suddenly leave. For all I know there are psychics listening in on this conversation. Since you'll be on your own, please promise me you won't do anything foolish or reckless?"

"I'll do my best," Yuan promised. "And mom? Before I go, there's something I need to tell you. Please don't be angry with me."

He took a deep breath. "I've been sneaking out of the village to explore the surrounding area almost every day since I was six years old."

She looked shocked for a moment, then said, "I shouldn't be surprised. Your father was also quite adventurous."

"What happened to him?" Yuan asked her. "Is he dead?"

"No," she responded. "He's...alive."

After an awkward pause, Yuan asked, "Mom, who's Drew Duplex?"

She picked up her now empty bowl of salad and stood up, and as she walked back to the tent, she said, "I have no idea who he is. Good night." She opened the right-hand flap and ducked into her part of the tent.

Yuan moved his bed outside to sleep that night, so that he would wake up with the break of dawn, before anyone else in the village. When he woke up he packed his bag with his journal, a quill and a bluk berry as he normally did, but unlike usual, he packed extra food and clothing as well. All three of his outfits were the same. He wore a pink shirt with light blue pants, both made of sliced grass blades woven together and stained with berry juice for color. He knew that the colors clashed, but he liked both colors enough to tolerate it (and he wasn't very picky with clothing). On his feet were chilan-berry white wooden sandals with dark grey, nearly black cushioning made of thick bouffalant fur (shedded, of course) which stayed on the sandal with woven grass and joltik webbing, rather than using the hide itself. The sandals used rocks attached with joltik webbing for traction.

The only reason Yuan knew that much about what he was wearing was because his mother was really into fashion. That was understandable, considering that Lacunosa was famous for making amazing clothing through honest and ethical means (although she didn't really like Yuan's choice of a color scheme). Yuan also packed some berries along with directions to Arsea city, which his mother believed might be big enough that it would be a lot more difficult for the White Knight to find him there for at least a month or two. Yuan left the village and headed east.

After walking through the forest for about half an hour, he saw a white-furred creature walking onto the trail. It was the same species as the creature he had seen the day before. He whipped out his journal, a quill and a bluk berry. Maybe Yuan would be able to get a picture this time. The creature glared at him, and fled.

"Wait, I just want a picture!"

The pokemon did not even acknowledge him with any sort of grunt or growl or body language of any sort. It just kept running. This was very unusual. Yuan had met some pokemon that did not want to have their picture drawn in his journal. Usually those pokemon would either growl, cover their eyes or walk away. This pokemon was actually running from him. Perhaps it was the same one he had seen yesterday. While it would be awfully rude to give chase and pester the pokemon into letting him draw a picture, Yuan was intrigued. The pokemon's appearance and behavior was unlike anything Yuan had ever encountered. His curiosity getting the better of him, Yuan gave chase.

Unfortunately (or fortunately in the pokemon's mind), it was a struggle for Yuan to keep up. Each stride of the pokemon's seemed to be more than twice that of Yuan's. He stared at the pokemon's legs in jealousy, wishing that his own were nearly as fast. Maybe if they were he'd get to Arsea City a lot quicker, otherwise it would still be at least a week's journey on foot...

The pokemon noticed that Yuan was gaining on him. Frustrated, it stopped running, to turn around and give another glare and a growl at Yuan, but Yuan didn't have enough space to stop, so he crashed into the pokemon from behind.

The pokemon yelped as Yuan collided with it, knocking it forward and landing in a heap with Yuan facedown on top of the creature's backside.

"Can't you take a hint!?" the creature growled, both fearful and aggravated.

"You can talk!?" was Yuan's first reaction.

"Course I can talk, most pokemon can talk. You just might not understand them," said the pokemon impatiently. "If you don't leave me alone, I'll have no choice but to fight you!"

"Fight me!?" asked Yuan, incredulously. "I just wanted a picture! Don't you think you're overreacting?"

"For some reason whenever I see you, my disaster sense goes haywire! It doesn't make sense to me that you'd be dangerous, but I can't think of any other explanation. On top of that, there's something weird about the potential for disaster I'm sensing from you-something different..."

There were multiple loud screeches coming from the treetops, and three purple monkey pokemon with yellow faces and two tails each which looked an awful like they had gloved hands on the ends of them dropped down from the branches. One of them grunted and threw shining shuriken-like objects at both Yuan and the pokemon he had been arguing with, while its companions jumped forward to attack them each physically.

Yuan's hand transformed into one like that was on the tail of the pokemon that was attacking him.

"Why are they attacking us!?" he asked, panicked.

"Why do you think!?" the white furred quardiped next to him snarked, headbutting its assailant before going for the pokemon that was flinging the shining shuriken things. "Some pokemon (and humans) can be really territorial. It's really early in the morning. We woke them up."

Yuan attempted to punch the pokemon that was attacking him, but his fist was grabbed, and another tail swung up and punched Yuan in the face, knocking him to the ground. Yuan had instinctively hardened his head just in time, so he wasn't injured. His nose hurt really badly though.

The last conscious monkey pokemon loomed over Yuan and the white-furred pokemon next to him and growled.

"I don't think that really explains why they're acting like this," Yuan whispered. He looked fearfully into the monkey's face, and strangely enough, saw the same expression reflected back at him. It glanced at the white-furred pokemon next to Yuan, and scampered back up its tree.

Yuan glared at the white-furred nightly creature on his left.

"Uh, I suppose my appearance might have spooked them a bit," he admitted. "My species has a rather...unfortunate reputation."

"What kind of pokemon are you anyway?" asked Yuan.

"Are you serious?" the nightly creature asked. "Your parents didn't tell you any horror stories about my kind?"

"Horror stories?" asked Yuan.

"I'm an absol," the dark quadriped said flatly.

"The word sounds familiar," said Yuan, wracking his brain for the memory of where he first heard it.

"Yep, you've heard horror stories," said the absol, starting to trot in the direction of the sunlight (east if you didn't already know), which was a lot brighter by this point than it was when Yuan had first left Lacunosa.

Yuan quickly caught up until they were walking side by side.

"What was that thing you said about your disaster sense going haywire and me being dangerous?" asked Yuan.

"Oh, it was nothing," said the absol."False alarm."

"My name's Yuan. What's your name?" asked Yuan, before he realized that he'd made an assumption. "Uh, you do have a name, right?"

The absol, trying hard not to be aggravated by all the questions he was being asked, said, "Baytne".

"Uh...did you just tell me to bite you?" asked Yuan, seriously weirded out.

"No!" Baytne sighed. "I didn't say Bite me, I said _Baytne_," Baytne corrected.

"Oh, so your name's Baytne," said Yuan.

To Baytne's immense relief and surprise, Yuan didn't mispronounce his name again.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

"Are you sure you don't want your picture taken?" Yuan asked him, suddenly.

"No!"

Or maybe Baytne had been right in his initial interpretation of his disaster sense. Maybe Yuan was dangerous. After all, it already seemed like Yuan might be the death of him.

* * *

And that's Chapter 2! I apologize if you think that I'm telling too much and not showing enough. It's difficult to show some of the common knowledge that my main character has when he's had few to no relationships in his life before this point other than his mother. The dialogue and situations I can use for world-building are very limited when Yuan has little social interaction with anyone other than his mother. Hopefully this will improve as Yuan makes more relationships and has more experiences.

So what do you think? Please review!


	3. Welcome to Arsea City! Wait, what?

Excerpt from Yuan's journal, translated from pictures with captions into pure text:

**Arsea City**

Population: about 10,000, one of the largest cities in the White Kingdom of Isshu.

Famous landmarks:

the Arsea city Marketplace, which used to sell goods from all over the world

the Temple of Arceus

_ After travelling for about a week, we finally reached Arsea city. It was a lively center of commerce and culture, and for a short while I entertained staying there. I thought I would see if I could share some of my artwork. Unfortunately, as much as I don't like using such biased and prejudicial language, Arsea city had a dark side. It fit its name perfectly-more perfectly than we knew at first, but we were about to find out..._

"We're here," said Yuan.

"Yes," said Baytne, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the redundant statement. "We are."

Arsea city was really big. Yuan stared in awe as he and Baytne walked past a plethora of people, pokemon and architecture. There were tents with vendors lining the side of the main road for quite a ways, all in different colors and designs. He saw an old woman haggling for some nice-looking earings at a small red tent. He saw two identical twins playing with marbles outside another tent where a man who looked to be their father was selling games and toys from around the world. Yuan also saw food vendors, and rushed past them to avoid getting hungry for anything. And there were all sorts of pokemon, too. At one of the tents there was an audino, a strange pink creature with big ears and blue eyes, who healed injuries with a pulse of sound and magic. At another there was a graceful mienshao giving, strangely enough, massages. Looking farther ahead of them into the city, Yuan saw two big buildings, one of them was an ornate polished stone building at the very back of the city, and the other was a stone brick tower to the right on the southernmost edge of the city. The tower was imposing and really, _really _tall. The other building was significantly shorter, but seemed to have a much larger perimeter. There was also-well you get the idea.

"Stop staring and close your mouth," Baytne muttered. "It makes you look like an idiot."

"But most of them are staring at me!" said Yuan.

"Probably because you're looking like an idiot," said Baytne.

Yuan closed his mouth and tried to stop staring at everything. He did notice though that even when he did that, there were still a lot of people and pokemon staring at them.

"I think they're staring at you too, you know," Yuan muttered.

Baytne said nothing.

After a while, Baytne whispered, "My disaster sense is tingling." He sniffed, and continued, "I've been smelling the same scent since yesterday evening. I think someone is following us."

Yuan stopped walking. He still hadn't gotten around to telling the absol why he had left Lacunosa in the first place. They both were travelling in the same direction, and provided each other company. Now however, Yuan considered that he might have put Baytne in danger by allowing the absol to accompany him. What had his mother said when she told him he had to leave Lacunosa?

She had been worried about psychics listening in on that conversation. Maybe they were.

But then Yuan realized that whoever was following them might have been a psychic, in which case, if Yuan's very rudimentary understanding of psychic abilities was accurate, then whoever it was might know every thought that had just passed through his head.

Seeming to sense his fear, Baytne started to get a little nervous too. "Yuan-"

Yuan had taken off running down the street, causing people to stare at him more than they were already.

"Yuan!" Baytne shouted after him, causing a LOT more people to stare at him now.

He suddenly noticed that his disaster sense was picking up somewhat less potential for disaster now; the scent that had been behind him and Yuan for over a day was a lot weaker behind him now, and stronger in front of him, but he could not tell where. The path of the scent seemed to zigzag all over the marketplace, and Baytne didn't have time to follow the whole trail. He grunted in frustration and ran after Yuan, dearly hoping that he was ahead of whoever had been tailing him.

Yuan kept running, and everyone he passed stared at him. Buildings rushed past him as his legs took on some of the properties of Baytne's. Unfortunately they took on more than they had the last time he had transformed his legs, and so his knees snapped backwards into normal Absol shape just as he was turning a corner into an alleyway, and he tripped and fell. He glanced around fearfully, but no one jumped out at him. There were no psychic agents of the White King coming to capture him. He must have lost his pursuer, somehow. He stood back up and brushed off his clothes.

"What kind of outfit is that!?" someone laughed. A small girl with extremely short reddish blonde pigtails and wearing overalls stepped out of the shadows, smirking as if she was sharing an inside joke.

"You can see it, can't you? I don't think you're looking for an explanation," said Yuan, annoyed at her.

"You seemed like you were in an awful hurry," she said, that smirk still on her face.

Yuan started getting suspicious. "Why are you so interested?"

"Because you're weird, and don't look like most people," she said flatly. Then in a more cheery voice, "Which means you're either special, or you're a fool. Or both!"

This girl was really getting on his nerves.

"My grandpa probably will be able to tell though. If he thinks you're special or not a fool he might let you stay with us. You look like you've just started a journey, and I bet you could use a place to stay for a while and get some much needed wisdom, huh mister?"  
Without giving Yuan a chance to reply, she jogged ahead of him into the alley and shouted, "Follow me!" back at him. Yuan didn't have much else to do, and he did need a place to stay. Maybe she would lead him somewhere where he'd be less likely to be found by White Kingdom agents.

"Aren't you coming?" she called back at him. Yuan sighed and followed her.

She led him out the other side of the alley, took a turn and led him onto a main street. They kept jogging until they both started to get too tired and then they walked the rest of the way to their destination. Yuan noticed that the road kept sloping downwards until finally they reached a large plaza with with a smooth slightly shiny dirt and crushed steel pavement with sparkingly gems of many colors embedded in it. In the center of the plaza this pavement started to go up into a mound and then sloped down again to make the mound hollowed out, and it was filled with water which rippled and shook about from the splashes of the tall pillar of water at the center.

"Come on!" the girl said, and Yuan looked up at where her voice was coming from. She was a quarter way up a staircase into a huge ornate stone building. It was the one at the very back of Arsea City, which Yuan and Baytne had noticed when they had first arrived.

It was a very big staircase. Then again, Yuan had never seen a staircase in Lacunosa. All of the ones he had seen were ones made by pokemon in the forest or plains near his home, which usually led into underground dens or burrows. And usually those steps were a lot wider so that rain would sink into the staircase before it could reach and possibly flood one's home. It was clear to Yuan as soon as he put his foot down on the bottom step that this staircase was of a different sort. It was made purely for walking.

He continued to climb the steps thinking how ridiculous it was that the roads all sloped down to this staircase which was going _up_. It didn't make sense to him that the entrance to the building was so much higher than the ground.

He finally reached the top where the small girl with pigtails and overalls was waiting for him. She opened the big double doors and led him inside.

Inside was a tall hallway made of strangely patterned tiles. The girl led Yuan through many confusing and similar passageways and up multiple staircases before finally reaching a huge hall made of the same large tiles as the hallways. There were murals and texts written on the walls and rows of stone benches lining both sides of the room. At the back there was an altar, and standing on it with his back to Yuan and the little girl was an old man wearing white robes with strange zigzagging grey lines running through it.

"Grandpa!" said the little girl, rushing up to the alter and hugging him. The old man turned around, smiled and picked her up. "Where have you been? I told you you're not supposed to explore outside on your own!"

"But gramps..." she whined.

"Please try not to call me gramps, it is undignified and not becoming of the child of a priest," he scolded her, though there was affection in his voice. Then he put her down and turned to the room's entrance where Yuan was still standing.

"I don't know who you are, but thank you for bringing my granddaughter back to me safe and sound."

"Uh, you'r welcome," said Yuan somewhat uncomfortably. Something about the architecture of this building and the rather small number of people that seemed to be in it gave it a rather strange and perhaps slightly spooky atmosphere. "Although...it's more like she brought me here."

"Did she now?" asked the old man looking at the girl accusingly. "What have I told you about talking to strangers, Julie?"

"Not to do it," she mumbled, staring at the ground. Her grandfather nodded, then he said to Yuan. "This is a sacred place. Do you know why my granddaughter brought you here?"

"She said something about how I'm either special or a fool, and something about much needed wisdom. And she also said-said something about uh, a place to stay."

Yuan privately thought that this building was slightly too freaky and strange for him to ever want to live in it even for a little while, but he didn't say that aloud.

He also felt awkward having a conversation echoing from two sides of the large sanctuary, but he didn't say that aloud either. If the priest felt awkward, he didn't show it. Instead he looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "Please ascend to the altar."

Yuan assumed that that meant the stage at the back that both the girl, Julie, and her grandfather were standing on. He walked down the aisle past the stone benches on either side until he was a few feet in front of the stage looking up at the old man.

"I am going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them as honestly as possible," said the old man.

"Okay," said Yuan uncertainly. The elderly priest cleared his throat.

"What are pokemon to you?"

"That depends on the pokemon," Yuan answered.

The old man didn't seem to think this answer was enough and waited patiently. However, Yuan didn't know what else to say. How else was he expected to answer the question? He was supposed to be as honest as possible. Did that mean he was supposed to lie? Or maybe he was supposed to define what a pokemon was from his perspective. After all, he had been living around them and interacting with them for his entire childhood. Not to mention...

"Umm, I think that question is too simple," said Yuan. The priest raised his eyebrows as Yuan thought for a moment and continued, "Pokemon are individuals and have many differences and similarities, just like humans. Some of them are my friends." As he said that, he thought of Baytne and some of the pokemon back in Lacunosa village that he used to play with along with other human children.

"Some of them are merely acquaintances or neighbors." Yuan thought of all the many pokemon that lived back in and around Lacunosa.

"And some of them are my enemies," Yuan said as the images of the red fighting pokemon that had attacked his village along with the dark three-headed dragon pokemon that had tried to kill him under the orders of the White Knight.

"And there are many more pokemon that I don't know and have never met," Yuan finished. "Oh yeah, and I'm also part pokemon," he added on as an afterthought.

The priest was stunned with his mouth open for a moment, baffled by the unexpectedly long and complicated answer. He closed his mouth and calmed his expression.

"Okay, next question: what drives you forward in life?"

"I don't know," said Yuan.

"And yet judging by your appearance and the bag slung over your shoulders, you are clearly on a journey. You are moving forward. There must be a reason for that."

"I'm on the run from a group of people and pokemon that wishes me harm. I also want to explore and experience the world and the life in it," said Yuan.

"You flee in fear, and yet at the same time that very motion of fleeing is also walking forward with courage. Interesting..." the old priest muttered too quietly for Yuan to really catch all of what he was saying. The old man then cleared his throat again and asked,

"Are we the same? Or are we different?"

"How do I know, I only just met you!" Yuan almost asked, but then he caught himself. The question probably wasn't that simple. It might not even just be referring to him and the old priest. What did he mean in that question by "we"? Then again, everyone had similarities and differences...

"Both," Yuan said instead.

"Do you believe in a higher power?" the priest asked.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?" Yuan asked.

"Do you believe in one or more Gods, or supernatural forces that govern movements of this world and all others and defy and are beyond explanation or mortal comprehension? Or anything similar to what I just described?"

"I'm not sure, I've never thought about it before," said Yuan. "But I don't think it sounds very realistic. Now that I think of it, it seems to make more sense to me that everything has an explanation, everything has a story to be told about it. Maybe we might not always know what that story is or be capable of understanding it, but just because we don't know a story, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist." Then Yuan paused and added, "And I want to read it."

"You do not think that there are some things we were never meant to know? Heights we were never meant to reach? What if learning that story destroys you?"

"How would a story destroy me?" asked Yuan, confused. "Stories make life interesting. I like to try to learn and understand things. Is there something bad about that?"

Now the priest looked uncomfortable. Instead of answering the question, he asked another one.

"Which is more important? Knowing the truth or following your ideals?"

"I have no idea," said Yuan. "I suppose they're both important, right?"

The priest and his granddaughter shared a meaningful glance.

"He doesn't just defy the Great Dichotomy. He stomps it flat without even realizing what he was stepping on," whispered Julie.

"He is truly a being of the void. He is the one who will awaken the beast and save us all."

"Um, why are you whispering?" asked Yuan. "I'm right in front of you and can hear what you're saying. What exactly are you saying, anyways? It doesn't seem to make any sense."

The priest and his granddaughter bowed.

"Chosen one, it is an honor to meet you," said the priest.

"Yeah, an honor!" said Julie, barely containing her excitement.

"Chosen one?" asked Yuan incredulously. "Huh!?"


	4. Tales of Arsea City: Part 1

Author's note: In the title I had originally planned to have it be Pokemon Pinkish-Grey, but then autocorrect slipped a different vowel under my radar. I intentionally made it the british spelling of Grey with an e, not the American one, Gray. This is for rather evident reasons I think, but in case you're wondering: Kyurem, not Kyuram.

Also, were you confused by how I kept switching between referring to the black and white kings and the black and white princes? Yeah, they're the same characters and there is a good reason for it. I was having trouble figuring out where I could explain it earlier. Hopefully this chapter will clear things up.

* * *

**Chosen One!? The Quest for the Eight Spirit Keys**

"Chosen one? Huh!?" Yuan didn't really get it. If he was chosen, what was he chosen for exactly? And who chose him? Yuan welcomed intellectual discussions (he knew that he really needed them considering that he only had his mother to talk to back in Lacunosa). However, now that it had been revealed why he was being asked all these questions, he was confused, and perhaps disappointed. On some level he had expected the priest to give his own answers to the questions he had asked, contributing to the discussion about their thoughts and perspectives. The response he was getting instead seemed to sound really vague, and a little bit crazy.

The two standing on the altar stood back up, and began to explain, which made them sound crazier.

"You're the one spoken of in the Prophecy of Unova!" said Julie. Her white-robed grandfather nodded sagely and continued, "One whose spirit transcends the dichotomy, a being of the void who will bring balance to our land."

"Okay..." said Yuan, uncertainly. None of it made sense to him, and now he was really getting the impression that this priest and his granddaughter were completely nuts. "And what am I supposed to do, exactly?"

"I know, I know!" said Julie, jumping up and down.

"Calm yourself, Julie," said the priest. He then answered Yuan's question.

"Your mission that Arceus has chosen for you is to obtain the eight spirit keys and use them to free the beast of the void from its eternal slumber, and with its help, save Isshu from destruction."

"And what are these eight spirit keys?" asked Yuan, still skeptical. "And where are they?"

"They are hidden and scattered throughout Isshu-unless they were stolen from their hiding places, that is. Then they could be anywhere."

"Okay," said Yuan. He was feeling glad that what they were saying was so outlandish, or else he would have been worried about going on a wild goose chase. But then that meant he had to explain that to the two lunatics looming over him on a stage.

"What if I refuse?" asked Yuan.

Julie gasped. "Why the hell would you refuse!? The Black and White kingdoms are preparing for war, and no one will be safe! Many people and pokemon are going to die if you don't stop it!"

The priest did not tell his granddaughter to calm down. Instead he said to Yuan, frustrated, "I suppose you still doubt our words."

"Yeah," said Yuan, debating whether he should also say, "Can you blame me?" It probably showed on his expression anyway though.

"Maybe if I showed it," the priest muttered. "Yes, I think I should…"

"But grandpa," said Julie. "He hasn't even accepted his responsibility as chosen one yet! There's a ritual and everything!"

"I made that ritual with the guidance of Arceus over twenty years ago. Unfortunately, something tells me that my efforts back then were wasted. The chosen one will not agree to accept his responsibilities until he has seen proof."

He pressed his hand on one of the tiles in the wall behind him, one of the dark red ones that had writing on them. It moved back into the wall and slid to the side, revealing a small alcove. Inside the alcove was a white roman-style pedestal with a red stripe spiraling around it. Sitting on the pedestal was a large light purple ring or bracelet that seemed to glow white like the sun. The priest took it off the pedestal and handed it to Yuan, who felt a strange affinity to it. He turned it over in his hand and saw, inscribed on the bracelet, the insignia of an eye.

"It is the Mind band," the old priest said. "It is the spirit key infused with the psychic element, which is the element of mental and spiritual light and truth."

The priest handed the Mind Band to Yuan. As soon as it touched Yuan's hand it started to glow even brighter for a moment, before dulling back down to its regular shine.

"Do you believe us now?" asked Julie.

"Not really," said Yuan. Then in order to avoid a conflict, "But these 'keys' seem really interesting, so I'll keep an eye out for them."

Yuan then stood there, awkwardly. Julie told him he might be given a place to stay, but Yuan knew it would probably be rude to ask.

"Can he stay with us for a little while, grandpa?" Julie asked the priest.

"I don't see why not," he said. "In fact, it would be a good idea for him to attend the meeting we're hosting in a month's time."

"Meeting?" Yuan asked.

"It's a special social event which will be held by some members of our temple's congregation and numerous guests. You're welcome to attend, you could learn something useful."

"Maybe," said Yuan, to avoid offending them any further than he might have already.

* * *

**Baytne's Fury!**

After failing to find Yuan, Baytne found a cheap inn to stay in for the night. It was two stories tall and made of polished orange wood, with four-square windows evenly spaced for each room on both floors.

Baytne stared up at the sign above the redwood door, which read, "The Mad Munchlax inn". Unfortunately since he had no money, he knew that he couldn't get a room. So he went inside and curled up in a corner of the bar on the ground floor.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few humans and pokemon getting drunk and being kind of raucous. Baytne figured he'd have to wait until they all passed out before he could get some shuteye. So he waited.

However he had nothing to do and was getting bored. Against his better nature, he started eavesdropping on conversations. One conversation was particularly interesting to him.

"I don't see da big problem, yeh know?" said a large round man with a goatee and only a little hair on top of his head. "It wasn't that long ago that we was all one kingdom. No Black or White, jus' Isshu. Or has ya all forgotten anything more den thirty years past?"

"You sound like a Black kingdom sympathizer," another man much larger then the first who to Baytne's amusement was wearing poorly fitting pants and no shirt said in a gravelly voice. "Traitors and spies ought to be reported." The bigger man clenched his fists.

"Woah! Calm down there, Tierre," said a blue, black and off-white furred jackal pokemon, placing a paw on the bigger man's arm so that the glint of the spike on the back was perfectly visible. "I'm sure he's not a traitor...right, Raul?"

The round man's face contorted in anger.

"O' course not! It's those idiot princes who betrayed us! I bet that's why they still call _themselves_ princes! They're too ashamed o' what they done ta call themselves kings!"

Everyone at the table gasped.

"BASTARD!" shouted Tierre, launching himself at Raul and punching every bit of him that he could reach.

Baytne knew it was a bad idea to intervene, but he wholeheartedly agreed with everything Raul had said. Now an innocent man was being beaten up for speaking the damn truth, and would probably be unconscious by the time White kingdom officials came to arrest him for treason.

The normally composed Baytne bristled in fury and growled loudly. All eyes in the tavern that had been watching the fight turned towards the absol as he approached the table where the fight had broken out.

Noticing the eyes on him, Baytne quickly got control over himself. He couldn't say what he really wanted to say.

Instead he stared into Tierre's eyes and said in his most menacing voice possible,

"I wish to get some rest tonight. If you keep making a scene, then this inn will be filled with soldiers come to find and capture any traitors. And while I don't sympathize with traitors, it will mean that I will go all night without sleeping. If that happens, _I will make you miserable._"

Tierre seemed to recoil under Baytne's threatening glare. He got off of Raul and stomped out the door to the inn, the bells on the door jangling loudly behind him.

Most of the patrons were rather quiet after that, and to Baytne's surprise, it was quiet enough for him to fall asleep much sooner than he thought he would. He nestled his head into his forelegs and began to snore softly.

* * *

Just so you know, this story follows the game continuity rather than the anime. This is partially out of preference, and also because of some inconsistencies between the two. That being said, I will be taking some creative liberties considering that the story and mechanics of both are sometimes inconsistent with themselves. I will try to stay as true to the games as possible though. Therefore, there will be no Kingdom of the Vale. In the distant future (Pokemon Black and white versions) the dragon stones will be found in two separate locations, just like in the games, not in the basement of that castle in the 14th movie.

Don't forget to leave a review! It doesn't have to be super long, just click that little button at the bottom of the page and say something! (no flaming or spamming though, but that should be a given!) It only takes a few seconds!


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